The Doomsday Clock is an internationally recognized design that conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making. First and foremost among these are nuclear weapons, but the dangers include climate-changing technologies, emerging... Read More

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Mun Suk Ahn

Ahn is a lecturer at Hanseo University in South Korea, where he teaches international politics and North Korean studies. Previously, he led the Korean Broadcasting System's diplomacy and security affairs coverage. He is the author of America in Need of North Korea and South Korea in Need of America and The Roh Moo-hyun Government and the U.S.

On June 1, members of the South Korean National Assembly's Intelligence Committee received some clarity about who would replace Kim Jong-il as North Korea's leader. A high official in Seoul's National Intelligence Service informed them that Kim had designated his 26-year-old third son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor. According to the National Intelligence Service, Kim Jong-il had ordered the North's military, politicians, and officials in overseas missions to swear allegiance to Kim Jong-un after Pyongyang's May nuclear test. This succession plan wasn't entirely surprising.